The Graphics Flight Recorder (GFR) is a Vulkan layer to help trackdown and identify the cause of GPU hangs and crashes. It works by instrumenting command buffers with completion tags. When an error is detected a log file containing incomplete command buffers is written. Often the last complete or incomplete commands are responsible for the crash.

This is not an officially supported Google product.

• Set the VULKAN_SDK environment variable. This variable should point to the base include folder, the setup script in the VulkanSDK will setup proper environment (e.g. setup-env.sh).
• Install CMake.
• Confirm support for the VK_AMD_buffer_marker device extension.

Run cmake:

> cmake -Bbuild -DCMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM=x64 -H.

Open the solution: build\GFR.sln

DLL will be output here: build\lib\

JSON files can be found here: manifest\windows

$ cmake -Bbuild -H.
$ cd build
$ make -j 8

SO will be output here: build\lib\

JSON files can be found here: manifest\linux

GFR is an implicit layer. The loader's documentation describes the difference between implicit and explicit layers, but the relevant bit here is that implicit layers are meant to be available to all applications on the system, even if the application doesn't explicitly enable the layer.

In order to be discovered by the Vulkan loader at runtime, implicit layers must be registered. The registration process is platform-specific. In all cases, it is the layer manifest (the .json file) that is registered; the manifest contains a relative path to the layer library, which can be in a separate directory (but usually isn't).

If you prefer, it is possible to override the loader's usual layer discovery process by setting VK_LAYER_PATH to the directory(s) to search for layer manifest files.

On Windows, implicit layers must be added to the registry in order to be found by the Vulkan loader. See the loader's documentation on Windows Layer Discovery for more information.

Using regedit, open one of the following keys:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Khronos\Vulkan\ImplicitLayers
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Khronos\Vulkan\ImplicitLayers

Add a new DWORD value to this key:

• Name: full path to the gfr.json file, manifest/windows/gfr.json.
• Value: 0

On Linux, implicit layer manifests can be copied into any of the following directories:

• /usr/local/etc/vulkan/implicit_layer.d
• /usr/local/share/vulkan/implicit_layer.d
• /etc/vulkan/implicit_layer.d
• /usr/share/vulkan/implicit_layer.d
• $HOME/.local/share/vulkan/implicit_layer.d

The Linux manifest is found in manifest/linux/gfr.json.

See the loader's documentation on Linux Layer Discovery for more information.

GFR is disabled by default. To enable the layer's functionality, set the GFR_ENABLE environment variable to 1.

Once enabled, if vkQueueSubmit() or other Vulkan functions returns a fatal error code (VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST or similar), a log of the command buffers that failed to execute are written to disk. The default log file location on Linux is /var/log/gfr/gfr.log and on Windows is %USERPROFILE%\gfr\gfr.log.

GFR uses VkSpecGen and the Vulkan XML specificaiton to generate much of it's layer bindings. To rebuild the source files in the generated folder you need to have Python3 installed and run the gfr_layer.py script.

This should update the layer's bindings to the version of Vulkan-Headers in the third_party directory.

This does not mean that GFR will be fully compatible with newer SDK versions. For example new commands will not be instrumented by default (only if GFR_INSTRUMENT_ALL_COMMANDS is enabled). Furthermore certain changes in Vulkan functionality may affect how effective GFR functions. Commands or new API's that affect how command buffers are recorded or submitted many not work properly unless GFR is updated.

Some additional environment variables are supported, mainly intended for debugging the layer itself.

• GFR_OUTPUT_PATH can be set to override the directory where log files and shader binaries are written.

• If GFR_TRACE_ON is set to 1, all Vulkan API calls intercepted by the layer will be logged to the console.

• If GFR_DUMP_ALL_COMMAND_BUFFERS is set to 1, all command buffers will be output when a log is created, even if they are determined to be complete.

• If GFR_INSTRUMENT_ALL_COMMANDS is set to 1, all commands will be instrumented.

• If GFR_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_MS is set to a non-zero number, a watchdog thread will be created. This will trigger if the application fails to submit new commands within a set time (in milliseconds) and a log will be created as if the a lost device error was encountered.

• If GFR_TRACK_SEMAPHORES is set to 1, semaphore value tracking will be enabled.

• If GFR_TRACE_ALL_SEMAPHORES is set to 1, semaphore events will be logged to console.

• If GFR_SHADERS_DUMP is set to 1, all shaders will be dumped to disk when created.

• If GFR_SHADERS_DUMP_ON_BIND is set to 1, shaders will be dumped to disk when they are bound. This can reduce the number of shaders dumped to those referenced by the application.

• If GFR_SHADERS_DUMP_ON_CRASH is set to 1, bound shaders will be dumped to disk when a crash is detected. This will use more memory as shader code will be kept residient in case of a crash.